100 Sask. high school students awarded Youth Apprenticeship Industry Scholarships

Seventy Saskatchewan communities will be awarding 100 high school students interested in the trades Youth Apprenticeship Industry Scholarships at graduation this year.

The program was conceived in order to create a solid trade workforce in Saskatchewan.

Jeff Ritter is the Chief Executive Officer of the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission.

He says, from a post-secondary education perspective, apprenticeship is a primarily work-based education system that has students accumulating about 85 per cent of the knowledge they require for certification on the job.

The other 15 per cent of the knowledge comes from what they learn inside a classroom or lab.

Ritter says with such large numbers of Canadians retiring, it’s important to get more youth thinking about the trades.

“There’s a substantial about of people working in the skilled trades right now who will soon or who have already retired,” explained Ritter. “The industry needs to replace those workers in order to keep building the structures and provide the services that we as consumers continue to enjoy.”

The $1000 scholarship will help with tools, tuition in future years of study and accommodation.